The folks at Leather Honey were kind enough to send me a sample of their leather cleaner and conditioner. Leather Honey is made by a family-owned US company who launched the all-natural conditioning product in 1968. They take pride in offering a chemical-free product because they are concerned that adding toxins to leather care products can put users at risk for developing irritations or illness. After all, most leather products come in contact with your skin (or your horse’s).

I’d heard of the conditioner but the leather cleaner is a new product.

The cleaner comes in a 4 oz bottle which needs to be diluted — two tablespoons into 8 oz of water. The product is completely natural and non-toxic, offering a safe, gentle way to clean all leather but suede. It has no discernible odor (okay, I have a cold, but it certainly isn’t unpleasant).

You spray the resulting mixture on your tack and then wipe it off with the enclosed lint-free cloth. The cleaner works effectively (you don’t need to use a lot of it) and doesn’t leave a sticky film on your tack or your hands at all. I really love tack cleaner that you spray on — it’s perfect for situations where there’s no water available, but with some cleaners the tack doesn’t feel clean afterward. This does. I’m definitely going to keep a spray bottle of this in my trailer for last minute touch ups to tack and boots before hunting (not that I ever need that!)

The directions say to apply the tack cleaner and let it fully dry before applying the conditioner, then apply the conditioner and leave it overnight. As a test case, I’ve used the cleaner and conditioner on a saddle I bought this year. Like all of my saddles, this one is used and it came to me a bit dry — in that the leather squeak! I’m hoping that the conditioner will help moisturize the leather because other than that, the saddle looks great.

Tune in tomorrow to see how well it worked.